我曾鄭重警告她「唔好再買嘢寄俾我! 我乜都唔要...要我處理咁多身外物, 我-會-發-癲! 你-醒-定-啲-呀!」所以她在包裹中附上一封信, 劈頭一句是Don't get mad at me of sending you these clothes. 原來恐嚇是沒用的! 打開包裹, 我並沒發癲, 還十分滿意這份禮物, 簡直是打救了我! 我的身型依然膨脹, 家中衣櫃裡的衣物99%穿不下, 正苦惱如何是好, 她便送來了這一大包救濟品!
救濟品計有:兩條彈性料牛仔褲,一中一長﹑兩件中長度的襯衣﹑一件針織﹑一件裇衫﹑一對legging﹑一串Bling Bling項鍊。難得牛仔褲好合身, good fit! 這個買手眼光也不賴! 姐說所費有限, 是在一家叫PRIMARK的連鎖時裝店買的, 當下PRIMARK在英國大展拳腳, 姐在信中提到「It is a chain shop growing really fast in UK and it is the 2nd largest clothing chain in term of transcations of sales afer Marks & Spencer」PRIMARK的經營理念類似H&M, 都是販賣價廉物美的時裝, 姐說時下的術語稱這些衣飾叫做"disposal fashion",鼓勵大家一季即棄,但在PRIMARK網頁說這叫ethical trade. 真是一種耐人尋味的marketing strategy!
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ve ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander. You too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…
About this song, information from Wikipedia:
Wear Sunscreen or Sunscreen Speech are the common names of an essay actually called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997.
The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single released in 1999, accredited to Baz Luhrmann.
Catherine Tate Show曾在英女皇御前表演, 首相貝理雅Tony Blair亦曾在Red Nose Day粉墨登場, 這應是政客親民的手段。Catherine 扮演的問題學生Lauren Cooper, 有一名句「Am I bovvered? 」,成了2006年英國街頭年青人的熱話口頭禪, Bovvered一字更被牛津大字典選為Word of the Year(2006)。這句的意思, 據解釋是 to show sarcastically that you don’t care about something. 真是不說不知她的威水史。
說了很長篇, 這電視劇集與英美經濟何干?
結論是那管在本土如何受歡迎, 英國的電視節目, 紅不遍全世界, 大抵是因為太重的地方色彩。大英子民的作風有時候頗為封閉和自我。相反, 姐說美國的電視劇集如Heroes,在英國同樣瘋靡。這反映了什麼? 兩個字「國力」, 也是另一種文化和經濟侵略吧。美國, 爛船都有三斤釘。美國好, 即環球股市好, 希望我的錢包進賬也可以好一點! (Photo: Catherine Tate & Tony Blair on Red Nose Day)
圖: 姐送我的聖誕救濟品
